Rahul Gandhi ([ˈraːɦʊl ˈɡaːnd̪ʱiː]; born 19 June 1970) is an Indian politician and member of the Parliament of India, representing the Amethi constituency.[1] Gandhi is the general-secretary of the Indian National Congress.[2] He is the grandson of Feroze Gandhi and Indira (née Nehru) Gandhi, and fourth-generation scion of the Nehru-Gandhi family.
Rahul Gandhi was born in Delhi on 19 June 1970 [3] as the first of the two children of Rajiv Gandhi, who later became the Prime Minister of India and Sonia Gandhi, who later became President of Indian National Congress, and as the grandson of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. He is also the great-grandson of India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. Priyanka Vadra is his younger sister.[4]
Rahul Gandhi attended St. Columba's School, Delhi[5] before entering The Doon School in Dehradun (Uttarakhand), also his father's alma mater,[6] from 1981–83. Meanwhile, his father had joined politics and became the Prime Minister on October 31, 1984 when Indira Gandhi was assassinated. Due to the security threats faced by Indira Gandhi's family from Sikh extremists, Rahul Gandhi and his sister, Priyanka were home-schooled since then.[7] Rahul Gandhi joined St. Stephen's College, Delhi in 1989 for his undergraduate education but moved to Harvard University after he completed the first year examinations.[8] In 1991, after Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by LTTE[9] during an election rally, he shifted to Rollins College due to security concerns and completed his B.A. in 1994.[10] During this period, he assumed the pseudonym Raul Vinci and his identity was known only to the university officials and security agencies.[8][11] He further went on to obtain a M.Phil from Trinity College, Cambridge University in 1995.[12] After graduation, Rahul Gandhi worked at the Monitor Group, a management consulting firm, in London.[13] In 2002 he was one of the directors of Mumbai-based technology outsourcing firm Backops Services Private Ltd.[14]
In March 2004, he announced his entry into politics by announcing that he would contest the May 2004 elections, standing for his father's former constituency of Amethi in Uttar Pradesh in the Lok Sabha, India's lower house of Parliament.[15] The seat had been held by his mother until she transferred to the neighbouring seat of Rae Bareilly. The Congress had been doing poorly in Uttar Pradesh, holding only 10 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state at the time.[16] At the time, this move generated surprise among political commentators, who had regarded his sister Priyanka as being the more charismatic and likely to succeed. It generated speculation that the presence of a young member of India's most famous political family would reinvigorate the Congress party's political fortunes among India's youthful population[17] In his first interview with foreign media, he portrayed himself as a uniter of the country and condemned "divisive" politics in India, saying that he would try to reduce caste and religious tensions.[15]
He won with a landslide majority, retaining the family stronghold with a margin of over 100,000 as the Congress unexpectedly defeated the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.[18] Until 2006 he held no other office.[19]
Gandhi and his sister, who is married to Robert Vadra, managed their mother's campaign for re-election to Rae Bareilly in 2006, which was won easily with a margin greater than 400,000 votes.[20]
He was a prominent figure in the Congress campaign for the 2007 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections; Congress, however, won only 22 seats with 8.53% of votes.[21]
Rahul Gandhi was appointed a general secretary of the All India Congress Committee on 24 September 2007 in a reshuffle of the party secretariat.[22] In the same reshuffle, he was also given charge of the Indian Youth Congress and the National Students Union of India.[23]
In 2008, senior Congress leader Veerappa Moily mentioned “Rahul-as-PM” idea when the PM of India Manmohan Singh was still abroad.[24]
In his attempt to prove himself as a youth leader in November 2008 he held interviews at his 12, Tughlak Lane residence in New Delhi to handpick at least 40 people who will make up the think-tank of the Indian Youth Congress (IYC), an organisation that he has been keen to transform since he was appointed general secretary in September 2007.[25]
Under Rahul Gandhi, IYC and NSUI has seen a dramatic increase in members from a two lakhs to twenty five lakhs.[26]
In various reports it has been proved that Rahul Gandhi has failed in his promise to eliminate family, patronage, money from Youth Congress. It has been seen that an aspiring delegates need to pay a substantial sum as nomination fee. Hence, an aspiring office-bearer with deep pockets sponsors them thereby allowing money power to have a role in the elections.[27][28][29]
In the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, he retained his Amethi constituency by defeating his nearest rival by a margin of over 333,000 votes. In these elections congress is said to have revived itself in Uttar Pradesh by winning 21 out of the total 80 Lok Sabha seats and the majority of the credit for this turnaround is given to Rahul Gandhi.[30] He spoke at 125 rallies across the country in six weeks.
Rahul Gandhi opines that the Lokpal should be made a constitutional body and it should be made accountable to the Parliament, just like the Election Commission. He also feels that Lokpal alone cannot root out corruption. This statement came out on 25 August 2011, on the 10th day of Anna Hazare's fast. This statement was considered as a delaying tactic by the opposition and Team Anna's members. It was consequently slammed by prominent opposition leaders Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley.[31] The Parliamentary Standing Committee led by Abhishek Manu Singhvi tabled the Lok Bill report in the Rajya Sabha on 9 December 2011. Almost all points proposed by Team Anna were ignored while Rahul Gandhi's wish for Lokpal to be made into a constitutional body was implemented. Anna Hazare believes that Rahul Gandhi is responsible for the weak and ineffective bill proposed by the standing committee of parliament.[32]
On 11 May 2011 Rahul Gandhi was arrested by the Uttar Pradesh police at Bhatta Parsaul village after he turned out in support of agitating farmers demanding more compensation for their land being acquired for a highway project.[33] He was released after being held for about three hours and later returned to New Delhi. He was to be presented before a Sub-Divisional Magistrate on 12 May 2011.[34]
Rahul Gandhi campaigned extensively in the 2012 Assembly elections, especially in the highly politically crucial state of Uttar Pradesh (UP) in the hope that his popularity would help bring Congress back to power. However, the party did very poorly in the elections winning only 38 seats, a meagre increase of six seats from the 2007 elections[35]. The Samajwadi Party and its new leader, Akhilesh Yadav swept the elections in UP, and Mr Yadav was sworn as the youngest Chief Minister of UP. The Congress party suffered humiliating defeats in other states (Goa and Punjab), and a close shave in Uttarahakhand. With only one win in the state of Manipur, the Indian press was quick to question the future of Mr Gandhi as the leader of the Congress party.[36]
Rahul Gandhi has been critical of nationalist groups like the RSS and compared them to terrorist organizations like SIMI.[37][38] According to a cable leaked by Wikileaks, in 2009, he allegedly shared concerns with the American ambassador to India Timothy Roemer that radicalized Hindu groups may pose a bigger threat to India than Islamic terror groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba.[39][40] His comments on radical Hindu groups were criticized by the opposition party, as well as the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.[41]
It has been alleged that Rahul Gandhi had detained a girl and her parents since 2007 after the family accused the Gandhi scion of raping the girl. On 01st Mar 2011, the Lucknow Bench of Allahabad High Court issued a notice to Rahul Gandhi,[42] however the allegations were found to be false. Allahabad high court not only dismissed the case after the girl in question appeared in the court, but slapped a 
50 lakh penalty against the petitioner ordering a CBI inquiry against her and websites publishing the story.[43]
On 14th Jul 2011, a day after the serial bombing in Mumbai, Rahul Gandhi gave a statement that "it was very difficult to stop every single terror attack". The remark resulted in a number of strong criticism from a number of Shiv Sena party members.[44]
- ^ Vidya Subrahmaniam (18 April 2004). "Gandhi detergent washes away caste". The Times of India. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/623458.cms. Retrieved 2007-02-09.
- ^ Sudip Mazumdar (25 December 2006). "Charisma Is Not Enough". Newsweek International. Archived from the original on 2007-01-27. http://web.archive.org/web/20070127214227/http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16241337/site/newsweek/. Retrieved 2007-02-09.
- ^ Detailed Profile – Shri Rahul Gandhi – Members of Parliament (Lok Sabha) – Who's Who – Government: National Portal of India. India.gov.in. Retrieved on 2011-08-09.
- ^ M.V.Kamath. "Does Congress want to perpetuate Nehru-Gandhi dynasty?". Samachar. Archived from the original on 2006-10-28. http://web.archive.org/web/20061028203930/http://samachar.com/features/290905-features.html. Retrieved 2007-02-09.
- ^ George Iype (23 March 2004). "Rahul Gandhi:Biography". oneindia.in. http://living.oneindia.in/celebrity/other-celebrities/2008/rahul-gandhi-biography.html. Retrieved 2007-02-09.
- ^ [searchindia.com/search/indian-politicians-rajiv-gandhi.html "Indian Politician – Profile of Rajiv Gandhi"]. searchindia.com/search/indian-politicians-rajiv-gandhi.html. Retrieved 2007-02-09.
- ^ Sanjay Hazarika (16 July 1989). "Foes of Gandhi make targets of his children". New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DEEDE1130F935A25754C0A96F948260&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss. Retrieved 2008-12-12.
- ^ a b Rahul completed education in US under a false name – India – DNA. Dnaindia.com (2009-04-30). Retrieved on 2011-08-09.
- ^ "The accused, the charges, the verdict". Frontline. 7 February 2010. http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1503/15030150.htm.
- ^ "Newsweek apologises to Rahul Gandhi". The Indian Express. 27 January 2007. http://www.indianexpress.com/news/newsweek-apologises-to-rahul-gandhi/21088/1.
- ^ A Question Of TheHeir & Now. www.outlookindia.com. Retrieved on 2011-08-09.
- ^ "Cambridge varsity confirms Rahul’s qualifications". The Hindu (Chennai, India). 29 April 2009. http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-international/article319541.ece. Retrieved 24 August 2011.
- ^ "The Great White Hope: The Son Also Rises". Rediff.com. 13 April 2004. http://www.rediff.com/news/2004/apr/13rajeev.htm.
- ^ Want to be CEO of Rahul Gandhi's firm? rediff.com "his start-up BPO venture, Backops Services Private Ltd ... call centre-like operation providing engineering detail and structural planning services ... based in Mumbai, was incorporated in Delhi on May 28, 2002 ... Gandhi and family friend Manoj Muttu as the two directors"
- ^ a b "Rahul attacks 'divisive' politics". BBC News. 12 April 2004. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3619123.stm. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
- ^ Majumder, Sanjoy (22 March 2004). "Gandhi fever in Indian heartlands". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3557045.stm. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
- ^ Biswas, Soutik (23 March 2004). "The riddle of Rahul Gandhi". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3560771.stm. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
- ^ "India elections: Good day – bad day". BBC News. 2 June 2004. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3711881.stm. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
- ^ The Tribune, Chandigarh, 21 August 2004; The Telegraph India, 20 May 2006; BBC News, 26 May 2004.
- ^ Majumder, Sanjoy (11 May 2006). "India's communists upbeat over future". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4761871.stm. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
- ^ "Uttar Pradesh low caste landslide". BBC News. 11 May 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6643953.stm. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
- ^ "Rahul Gandhi gets Congress post". BBC News. 24 zzz19zzz 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7010099.stm. Retrieved 2007-09-24.
- ^ "Rahul Gandhi gets Youth Congress Charge". Chennai, India: The Hindu. 25 zzz19zzz 2007. http://www.hindu.com/2007/09/25/stories/2007092550240100.htm. Retrieved 2007-09-25.
- ^ In the family way. Indian Express (2008-10-03). Retrieved on 2011-08-09.
- ^ "Rahul Gandhi's talent hunt". The Economic Times. 7 November 2008. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/PoliticsNation/Rahul_Gandhis_secret_talent_hunt/articleshow/3684740.cms. Retrieved 2008-11-07. [dead link]
- ^ "Rahul Gandhi’s Youth Congress gets overwhelming response". DNA India. 24 May 2010. http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_rahul-gandhi-s-youth-congress-gets-overwhelming-response_1386926. Retrieved 2010-09-23.
- ^ "Family Still Comes First: Rahul Gandhi fails to eliminate family, patronage, money from Youth Congress". India Today. 11 July 2011. http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/story/rahul-gandhi-fails-his-promise-to-rid-youth-congress-of-family-patronage-money/1/143357.html. Retrieved 2011-12-08.
- ^ "J&K: Senior leaders’ kin grab plum posts in YC". Indian Express. 4 August 2011. http://www.indianexpress.com/news/j&k-senior-leaders-kin-grab-plum-posts-in/827021/. Retrieved 2011-12-08.
- ^ "Youth Congress loses battle to shed family, patronage, money". Indian Express. August 2011. http://www.indianexpress.com/news/youth-congress-loses-battle-to-shed-family/740782/. Retrieved 2011-12-08.
- ^ "Sonia secures biggest margin, Rahul follows". The Times of India (Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd.). 18 May 2009. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Lucknow/Sonia-secures-biggest-margin-Rahul-follows/articleshow/4544401.cms. Retrieved 2009-05-18.
- ^ Sulekha news (27 August 2011). "Sushma tears into Rahul's address on Lokpal "]. http://newshopper.sulekha.com/sushma-tears-into-rahul-s-address-on-lokpal_news_1339499.htm. Retrieved 10 December 2011.
- ^ DNA correspondent (9 December 2011). "Anna Hazare blames Rahul Gandhi for ‘ineffective’ Lokpal Bill "]. http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_anna-hazare-blames-rahul-gandhi-for-ineffective-lokpal-bill_1623889. Retrieved 10 December 2011.
- ^ "Rahul Gandhi arrested in Uttar Pradesh". Yahoo News (Yahoo News). 12 May 2011. http://in.news.yahoo.com/rahul-gandhi-arrested-uttar-pradesh-released-210738122.html. Retrieved 2011-05-12.
- ^ "Rahul Gandhi arrested by UP police". LiveMint (LiveMint.com). 12 May 2011. http://www.livemint.com/2011/05/12001359/Rahul-Gandhi-arrested-by-UP-po.html. Retrieved 2011-05-12.
- ^ http://www.ndtv.com/election/assembly-2012/
- ^ http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?280188
- ^ RSS is 'fanatical' like banned outfit SIMI : Rahul. The Economic Times. 6 October 2010
- ^ RSS as fanatical as SIMI: Rahul. Hindustan Times (2010-10-06). Retrieved on 2011-08-09.
- ^ Rahul Gandhi, the "crown prince" of Indian politics, told the American ambassador last year that Hindu extremist groups could pose a greater threat to his country than Muslim militants The Hindu December 17, 2010.
- ^ Radical Hindu units bigger threat than LeT: Rahul Gandhi economictimes.com, ET Bureau, Dec 18, 2010.
- ^ "Radical Hindu groups bigger threat than LeT, says Rahul". India Today. http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/story/rahul-gandhi-in-wikileaks-terror-row/1/123754.html. Retrieved 13 May 2011.
- ^ "HC issues notice to Rahul Gandhi for girl's illegal detention". The Economic Times. 1 March 2011. http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2011-03-01/news/28645634_1_hc-issues-notice-illegal-detention-rahul-gandhi.
- ^ "50-lakh penalty slapped on petitioner out to defame Rahul". The Hindu (Chennai, India). 8 March 2011. http://www.hindu.com/2011/03/08/stories/2011030860550300.htm.
- ^ "Rahul Gandhi on Terror Attacks". Outlook India. 14 July 2011. http://news.outlookindia.com/item.aspx?727739.
| Persondata |
| Name |
Gandhi, Rahul |
| Alternative names |
|
| Short description |
Indian Politician |
| Date of birth |
19 June 1970 |
| Place of birth |
New Delhi, India |
| Date of death |
|
| Place of death |
|
